Guess who’s eye this is. Hint: Most of you won’t like him. Answer: end of post.
We had a nice visit from the Winter Moving Company, moving Mckenzie from CA to CO:
Also had a visit from some friends from PA:
And some more pool parties with local friends. Dog made sure no face went un-licked:
You know this one:
Same one in green eye mode:
Several projects this month. First one was inspired by last month’s paver project, only bigger, under the pine tree:
I dug out a spot outlined by the intersection of the tree shade and the remaining sprinkler radiuses:
I got a bit dirty. Dog was proud of me, he likes dirt:
Cat was not. He doesn’t like dirt:
I calculated the max Subaru survival capacity at 40 pavers, 1200 lbs, … took 3 trips:
I had to scree the sand flat a couple of times, as Dog was trying to help:
I used some nifty new poly paver base mats to avoid digging out and filling in 6” of gravel base:
Final product!
The other big project was a 18 * 250 watt = 4.5 kw solar panel install. We used some simple recycled plastic bases weighted down with cinder blocks to avoid puncturing the garage membrane roof:
Final product!
Cost was $15k before tax breaks, $9k after. Will pay for itself in 10 years, with a > 25 year lifespan.
The last project will also cut our electric bill. Replaced the old school fixed speed induction pool pump with a variable speed permanent magnet DC pump. Drops the power from 1500 watts to 300 watts with enough power left to pump water up to the roof mounted solar water heating pipes.
I discovered shaving cream makes for a great air and water leak detector:
Closing with some new bug photos. This guy had a cool eye reflection from my camera flash:
And this guy figured out how to levitate:
Nobody likes a wasp, but they are colorful:
A couple of praying manti (assuming that is plural for mantis?) showed up:
The Gargoyle took the big green one as a earring, gargoyles are into unusual fashion statements:
Finally, another spider photo. This guy has two big harry beards. Or maybe they are ineffective fangs. Or maybe misplaced testicles.
That initial eye photo was from this poor mouse, who fell into the pet water dish.
I rescued him, took him outside and gave him a 1 second lead from the cat. Mostly drown, he was still impressively fast and lead the cat on a chase thru the flower garden, not sure who won.
Bruce